Cubs 1, Brewers 0: Winning streak comes to an end as Chicago spoils Corbin Burnes' gem

CHICAGO – The wind was blowing in off Lake Michigan. The temperatures dipped just enough to make the temperatures give off an early-autumnal feel. A pair of marquee names were on the mound for their respective teams, one already a Cy Young winner and another a potential winner this year.

The makings of a classic Wrigley Field pitchers duel were in place and Corbin Burnes and Justin Steele delivered.

Burnes was excellent, taking on ace form as he dodged in and out of traffic over seven innings of one-run ball. Unfortunately for the Milwaukee Brewers, Burnes' opposition was unblemished.

If the Brewers' winning streak was going to come to an end, it was going to die at the warning track in the blustery conditions Tuesday night.

Steele threw six scoreless innings and the Chicago Cubs bullpen took care of the rest from there for a 1-0 decision that brought an end to the season-best, nine-game win streak for Milwaukee (74-58) and brought the Cubs back within four games in the National League Central Division standings.

"We took some really good swings that weren't rewarded," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "That's just this park on a really windy day."

Box score: Cubs 1, Brewers 0

Brewers offense comes up short early, often

Tyrone Taylor knew he struck the ball well. He also was aware where he was playing.

Taylor's towering fly ball off Steele in the fifth inning had the best chance of any hit on the night of crawling past the ivy walls and escaping the blustery confines, but it got knocked down by the air and landed in the glove of a leaping Ian Happ at the left-field fence.

"I hit it well," Taylor said. "I thought it had a chance but I knew the wind was blowing in, so I didn’t have my hopes too high."

None of the Brewers did. William Contreras and Willy Adames sent aerial blasts that died at the warning track late in the game. Christian Yelich resorted to bunting for a hit. Joey Wiemer managed to crush one that would have pierced the wind for a go-ahead homer in the sixth but, alas, it was well foul.

"It was a tough day to hit the ball in the air today," Adames said. "Everybody that has played here knows when the wind is blowing in, it’s almost impossible to hit a homer. But they had the same situation. They only scored one. We hit the ball hard a couple of times and didn’t get the hits. That’s baseball. I don’t know what to tell you."

That's the Wrigley experience in a nutshell. Both teams had to deal with it. The Brewers were just the ones unable to come up with a timely hit.

The Brewers had their opportunities early against Steele, who picked up his 15th win and dropped his ERA to 2.69.

With men on second and third and one out in the first, Adames hit a liner that a leaping second baseman Nico Hoerner snagged, and then Andruw Monasterio struck out.

In the second, Milwaukee had runners on first and second and one out before Taylor hit into a double play. The Brewers faced the same situation in the third but Adames and Monasterio struck out.

Steele also overcame a line drive off the bat of Victor Caratini that struck him directly near the left knee in the second to win his sixth straight decision while throwing a career-high 111 pitches.

"His fastball is really good," Taylor said. "It gets on you and it has a little cut. It’s sneaky. The secondary pitches are good, too, because they’re moving the same direction toward the cut. Today he was working away a good amount, which is different. He usually tries to come in to righties to try to beat you to the spot. He’s a good pitcher and he did pretty well tonight."

Corbin Burnes delivers excellent, gritty outing

Like the Brewers, the Cubs put runners on second and third with one out in the first. They also didn’t get a hit, but they did scratch across a run.

Cody Bellinger rolled a two-strike pitch from Burnes over to second base for a groundout, bringing home Hoerner, who had been hit by a pitch.

That would be all the Cubs got despite multiple scoring opportunities against Burnes, who buckled down time and time again with men on base despite not being at his sharpest.

"Obviously we put ourselves in a lot of holes and put guys on base and not finishing guys with two strikes," Burnes said. "But when we needed to, made pitches and got out of innings. A couple of times had some big momentum shifts to give us a chance."

It was the performance of an ace by Burnes, who went seven innings despite allowing eight hits, two walks and a hit batter. Burnes struck out seven, with many of those punchouts coming when he found himself in a jam.

Burnes stranded a runner on third in the first, left the bases loaded in the fifth when Hoerner lined into a double play and got out of two-on, one-out situations in both the sixth and seventh.

"Corbin was great," Counsell said. "He pitched out of some jams. Corbin made some huge pitches. It was a wonderful performance by him."

A wonderful performance that, oddly enough, didn't result in a win for the Brewers for the second time in Burnes' last three starts.

On August 17 in Los Angeles, Burnes shut the Dodgers out over seven innings only for the Brewers to also lose 1-0.

In his other two most recent starts, though, Burnes allowed a combined 11 runs in 11 ⅔ innings. Milwaukee won both times.

Go figure.

Brice Turang's defense helps keep the Brewers in it

Burnes was the beneficiary of the superb defense at second base by Brice Turang, whose acrobatics up the middle saved at least one run.

Turang made a wide-ranging pick on Mike Tauchmann's grounder up the middle leading off the bottom of the third and delivered an off-balance strike to first for the out. It was an excellent play that wasn't even his best of the game.

That came in the sixth when Bellinger sent a missile on the ground headed straight for right-center. Turang sprawled out to made a lunging stop on the 102.8 mph one-hopper and threw from his knees to get the force out at second base.

The next batter, Ian Happ, singled for what would have scored a run had Turang not made the play.

"He played great tonight. He's played great all year," Burnes said. "He's played Gold Glove-caliber second base and he rightfully should be at the top of that list at the end of the year."

Too bad keeping runs off the board on defense wasn't going to put them on the board on offense against Steele and the Cubs.

The streak is over. The Brewers, for what it's worth, didn't appear to be too fazed afterward — music, atypical after a loss in the clubhouse, was even playing at a moderate volume as players got changed at their lockers.

Time to try and start up a new streak tomorrow?

"Yep," Taylor said. "That's the plan."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Justin Steele, Cubs edge Corbin Burnes, Brewers in pitchers' duel